Spider John
XS650 Enthusiast
Yeah, been thinking about painting it darker, maybe kind of a titanium color. Maybe two metallic colors?
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Building... something.
- Thread starter Spider John
- Start date
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- Tags
- build
Spider John
XS650 Enthusiast
Styrofoam mock up time. Just one of many possibilities.
Well, now, THAT looks good. You got my vote...
Ave arachnid,
that's my favorite build style, elegance plus economy.
But.
Bikes need fenders.
Or don't it ever rain where you live?
Us old Brit bikers reckon there's only three times you can ride;
After the rain has stopped but the roads are still wet.
While it's raining.
While the roads are dry but it'll start raining while you are out.
Spider John
XS650 Enthusiast
Front fender is in the works for sure. I always run fenders as I ride year round rain or shine. Besides, I live on a dirt road, and there are small rocks about the size of the voids on the tires. You get the picture.
Working on some mounts for the inverted fork lowers that will let me use a more traditional fender rather than a high enduro style, which I think are hideous.
Working on some mounts for the inverted fork lowers that will let me use a more traditional fender rather than a high enduro style, which I think are hideous.
Spider John
XS650 Enthusiast
Spider John
XS650 Enthusiast
Changed to lower bars and big squishy grips. Still tinkering with side covers and fender mounts. Riding it every day and quite enjoying the nice power-to-weight ratio and great handling. 
Spider John
XS650 Enthusiast
3/4" square tube salvaged from the old KX rear subframe is sturdy enough to mount the fender nice and close.
This particular fender is just one I had lying about and is actually radiused for a 19, but it'll do for now.
Spider John
XS650 Enthusiast
Very cool - I'm just catching up on this one. Must be neat having a 650 that goes well in the dirt.
pago cruiser
XS650 Addict
Never saw this build before. Really nice. Looks like you kept the long forks? How does it handle?
Really like the monoshock as well; do you remember what bike it was from, and did you have to do any mods to it?
And last... the mono has the potential for allowing almost as much travel as you want; but it looks limited by the rear fender?
Really like the monoshock as well; do you remember what bike it was from, and did you have to do any mods to it?
And last... the mono has the potential for allowing almost as much travel as you want; but it looks limited by the rear fender?
Spider John
XS650 Enthusiast
Front brake works surprisingly well, and I've hauled it down from interstate speeds at maxim braking on several occasions. I wasn't sure how it was going to work at first but after the first couple of "panic" stops i started riding it like any other bike. The 21" wheel keeps the rotor speed down compared to a supermoto setup. Still in the long term plan to upgrade to the 320mm rotor one day.
Spider John
XS650 Enthusiast
I kept the long forks because I liked the way it handles, even though I wasn't crazy about the looks at first. The forward offset of the front axle lowers the trail so you don't notice the rake.
Honestly, I couldn't be more pleased with the handling. I think it handles at least as well as your average dual sport both off and on road.
The rear travel is purposely limited by using a street shock, from a ZX6R if I remember correctly. I figured the average laden height based on a straight line from the countershaft sprocket through the swingarm pivot, which is the real limiting factor for rear articulation. It soaks up big ruts and speed bumps and tracks perfectly during aggressive cornering.
pago cruiser
XS650 Addict
Hey Spider - would you know offhand how much the swingarm is longer than the stock XS? I'm guess it has to be at least a couple inches to account for the shock going through the front? I'm thinking about this for another project, and I can see almost no way to do it with a linkage type shock and keep the swingarm length the same.
Spider John
XS650 Enthusiast
If I remember correctly, it's around 3 inches longer.
pago cruiser
XS650 Addict
Thanks.
That explains how the longer front end did not raise the bikes altitude more.
Just as a what-if exercise, did you look into shortening the USD forks?
That explains how the longer front end did not raise the bikes altitude more.
Just as a what-if exercise, did you look into shortening the USD forks?
Spider John
XS650 Enthusiast
I did some preliminary poking around at the time, more or less the same as shortening modern cartridge forks in a right-side-up setup. Shorten a spacer on one side and fabricate one the same size (assuming you want the same amount of pre-load) on the other.
Edit: found this in my bookmarks.
Edit: found this in my bookmarks.
Last edited:
Spider John
XS650 Enthusiast
Been going through a lot of rear tires with the 19x1.85 motocross rim since all I can find in a 50/50 is a front turned round. Just laced up an 18x2.15 to give me more choices, even though I liked the handling and tracker-ish look of the 19. Went from a 100/90-19 to a 120/90-18. Not a huge difference but probably worth the effort.
